Poser

Think you're different, pretend you're bad
Think you're edgy, you're so sad
Anti-corporate, anti-greed
You prop up both with whiney need

Want handouts?
cause you're a poser
Try to stand out
cause you're a poser
you lean left
cause you're a poser
you're not a punk
you fucking poser

Support big unions and their greed
Spit talking points for going green
Hate on people that succeed
You're just a hipster wannabe

Want handouts?
cause you're a poser
Try to stand out
cause you're a poser
you lean left
cause you're a poser
you're not a punk
you fucking poser

You can't speak truth to power
when you're the one that's in power
You tell me you believe in hope
Anarchist?  What a joke

Want handouts?
cause you're a poser
Try to stand out
cause you're a poser
you lean left
cause you're a poser
you're not a punk
you fucking poser

*Recording Details: After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I recorded vocals with my Heil PR-20, using my car as a vocal booth.  I recorded bass through my Multi Track into Ardour.   I redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions. 

Just Scratching the Surface

Supported and expanded Bush's unconstitutional Patriot Act.  And then had four US citizens killed without judicial process.

Ordered private company, Boeing, to shut down and then fire 1,000 non-union employees.

Was fast and furious to put guns into criminal hands, ending in the murder of US Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry.

Fired Inspector General Gerald Walpin for discovering his friend, mayor Kevin Johnson, had embezzled government funds.

Gave tax dollars to campaign contributors and lobbyists claiming it was for 'green energy', and rewarded others with high paying federal jobs.

Had armed SWAT agents raid a law-abiding guitar factory, Gibson, because it was owned by a Republican.

Forced banks to give mortgages to people who couldn't afford them, and collected $23,000 in legal fees for himself for doing so.

Ordered military to stand down while Benghazi consulate was under attack, resulting in 4 American deaths that could've been prevented.

We voted for death by hope.

(Just think, that clock was $10 trillion when Obama took office... a number he said was irresponsible and unpatriotic.  What does that make the current number?)

*Recording Details: After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I recorded vocals with my Heil PR-20, using my car as a vocal booth.  I recorded bass through my Multi Track into Ardour.   I redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions. 

Lost

Why
Would
You

Why would you do the things you do?
When you know it's bad for you?
Refuse to fix youself and mend
The wedge between family and friends
You can run but can't change your past
How long do you think you'll really last?
This is what happens when you mix up love and lust

*Recording Details: After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I recorded vocals with my Heil PR-20, using my car as a vocal booth.  I recorded bass through my Multi Track into Ardour.   I redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions. 

Lying Liar Who Lies

You turn to me when I say to you
And try to tell you that I'll be true
You left me without a goodbye
Told friends I left you alone to cry
Now all my friends are mad at me
Even though you're the one who left me
It was hard enough when you hurt my pride
But why'd you go and make up lies?

A lying liar who lies
A lying liar who lies
A lying liar who lies
A lying liar who lies

So I moved away, and I moved along
Even though I was the one who was wronged
Found new friends and a new place
My heart was healing, life was great
I picked up, started over again
Then you contacted my new friends
Made up more lies about me
What's your problem?! You left me!

A lying liar who lies
A lying liar who lies
You're a lying liar who lies
A lying liar who lies

*Recording Details: After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I recorded vocals with my Heil PR-20, using my car as a vocal booth.  I recorded bass through my Multi Track into Ardour.   I redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions. 

4 Minute Warning

*Recording Details: After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I recorded vocals with my Heil PR-20, using my car as a vocal booth.  I recorded bass through my Multi Track into Ardour.   I redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions. 

The Only Easy Day

It's the tough times (It's the tough lives)
It's the rough times (It's the rough lives)
That make you who you are
Strengthen you inside
It's the hard choices, impossible choices
That define you even when you're lost inside
It's your actions that make you are
Life's about what you can shoulder
Not what's 'fair' or 'right'
It's integrity that drives you onward
Problems are only passing if you keep your goals in sight

Cause the only easy day was yesterday
When the clouds are forming and the skies turn gray
To face the coming storm, you must be brave
Cause the the only easy day was yesterday
The only easy day was yesterday
When the clouds are forming and the skies turn gray
To face the coming storm, you must be brave
Cause the the only easy day was yesterday

Life is hard (so fucking hard)
And getting harder
Because we as people are now broken in every way
That's how they want us
Groveling on our knees
No will left to fight
Just begging for release

The excuses you use to hold yourself back
are all of your own design
 To set yourself free, you have to face your fears
It's ok to fail from time to time
 Pick yourself up, brush yourself off
That's what sets people apart from sheep
Life has no safety nets, there are no life lines
Just you, your will, your heartbeat

 To fix your life
You have to make a choice
To embrace the struggle
And live with the pain
To no longer sit down
To give the voiceless voice
To do the right thing
And go against the grain

Cause the only easy day was yesterday
When the clouds are forming and the skies turn gray
To face the coming storm, you must be brave
Cause the the only easy day was yesterday
The only easy day was yesterday
When the clouds are forming and the skies turn gray
To face the coming storm, you must be brave
Cause the the only easy day was yesterday

The excuses you use to hold yourself back
are all of your own design
 To set yourself free, you have to face your fears
It's ok to fail from time to time
 Pick yourself up, brush yourself off
That's what sets people apart from sheep
Life has no safety nets, there are no life lines
Just you, your will, your heartbeat

The only
easy day
was
yesterday
The only
easy day
was
yesterday

Roam

 As I make it through each day
Will I stay, will I stay, will I...
Questions linger in this way
Will I stay, will I stay, will I...

What is it in me that just can't seem to find peace and rest?
Why is it I dream of moving and moving
I just can't be content

Am I just a man without a home?
Am I doomed to walk this path forever alone?

I was born roam
I was born roam

Man with no home
Man with no home
Man with no home
Man with no home

I always tell myself I'm free
Will I stay, will I stay, will I...
But if that's true, why do I repeat
Will I stay, will I stay, will I...


What is it in me that just can't seem to find peace and rest?
Why is it I dream of moving and moving
I just can't be content

Am I just a man without a home?
Am I doomed to walk this path forever alone?

I was born roam
I was born roam
 Man with no home
 Man with no home

There's always reasons not to stay
Will I stay, will I stay, will I...
But I can't tell if I'm running away
 Will I stay, will I stay, will I...

 What is it in me that just can't seem to find peace and rest?
Why is it I dream of moving and moving
I just can't be content

I was born to roam
I was born to roam
Man with no home
I was born to roam

Yesterday

When you woke up today

Did you stop?

Did you take a breath

and then open your eyes and say,

'It's gotta be better,

better than yesterday'

Don't be a victim to your past

and wallow your life away

It's gotta be better

Than yesterday

Yesterday

Yesterday

Yesterday

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what you feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what you feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what you feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what you feel

When you woke up today

Did you stop?

Did you grab a mirror

and look at yourself and say,

'I'm gonna be better, 

better than yesterday.

I won't be a victim to my past

and wallow my life away.

I'm gonna be better

than yesterday.'

Yesterday

Yesterday

Yesterday

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what you feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what you feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what you feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what I feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what I feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what I feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what I feel

Defeat is believing in what others say instead of what I feel

Is This America?

Is this America we see when we walk down the street

Families in tent cities because of bankers playing for keeps

4 million unemployed leads to hard life and hard times

In desperation the best person will resort to crime

Is this America we see when we open our eyes

With people screaming at the government

'Stop all these lies'

With crisis after crisis, they use fear to heard us like sheep

If you recognize the truth they say, 'go back to sleep'

We get attacked, they respond with the 'Patriot Act'

But the fact they tracks us takes the world and paints it black

What kind of world do we live in if we can't live free

Addicted to their handouts just like it was smack on the streets

With every resolution called a solution Progressive evolution

rapes the Constitution, this institution breeds dissolution

Sold our freedom for security

Now watch them abuse it

Gave them power in our darkest hour

How can we do this?

Is this America we see when we walk down the street

Families in tent cities because of bankers playing for keeps

4 million unemployed leads to hard life and hard times

In desperation the best person will resort to crime

Is this America we see when we open our eyes

With people screaming at the government

'Stop all these lies'

With crisis after crisis, they use fear to heard us like sheep

If you recognize the truth they say, 'go back to sleep'

Investing in Smith and Wesson in case this recession

turns into a hyper inflated Greater Depression

Their intentions lead one direction

A Brave New World (Order)

Entitlements for every boy and girl (sort of)

Self reliant persons need no longer apply

Even when George Orwell warned us of the eyes in the sky

We didn't catch it, pay attention or even try to save it

A future for our children we forced into enslavement

Is this America we see when we walk down the street

Families in tent cities because of bankers playing for keeps

4 million unemployed leads to hard life and hard times

In desperation the best person will resort to crime

Is this America we see when we open our eyes

With people screaming at the government

'Stop all these lies'

With crisis after crisis, they use fear to heard us like sheep

If you recognize the truth they say, 'go back to sleep'

Is this America?

When 1 in 4 has an STD?

Is this America?
When we get so over taxed we can't succeed?

Is this America?

When they don't need a warrant to break into our homes?
Is this America?
When they try to shut down opposing radio shows?

Is this America?
When they choose for doctors who lives and dies?
Is this America?
When we let the Fed take control of our lives?
Is this America?
Is this America?

Impressionable

Think for youself

Think, think yourself

You can't think for yourself 

letting others run your life

You found the truth out for yourself

but now you want some help

to be told how you should feel 

instead of doing it yourself

Think for youself

Think, think yourself

You can't think for yourself 

letting others run your life

You found the truth out for yourself

but now you want some help

to be told how you should feel 

instead of doing it yourself

You found the truth out for yourself

but now you want some help

to be told how you should feel 

instead of doing it yourself

*Recording Details: I initially recorded drums, guitars and bass for this back in 2010.  I recorded vocals in April of 2014.  After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to re-record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I kept the original bass direct line recorded in Pro Tools from 2010, but redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions.  

Introverts Unite

It amazes me how people can't be 

alone from time to time

They always call a friend or text instead 

of enjoying the peace of life

Yet somehow when they look at me

Their eyes show only pity it seems

They must project their loneliness on me

But I'm the one who's happy and they just can't see

Don't think I'm lonely, you don't know me

I'd rather be on my own

Not everyone needs to be with someone

I like spending time alone

I was born whole

I'm not half-done

Being happy doesn't happen cause of someone

Love is the effect, not the cause

Of true happiness in spite of all flaws

A waste of time, a waste of space

Don't waste your life always on the chase

You were unhappy before, you'll be unhappy with them

Just another divorce waiting to happen

People bring problems

and want me to solve them

That's not who I want to be

I don't want to be your savior

or change your behavior

You do you and I'll do me

Yet somehow when they look at me

Their eyes show only pity it seems

They must project their loneliness on me

But I'm the one who's happy and they just can't see

In this age of information saturation

I want to get off the map

I don't need an overdose of communication

I'm not looking for 'my other half'

I was born whole

I'm not half-done

Being happy doesn't happen cause of someone

Love is the effect, not the cause

Of true happiness in spite of all flaws

A waste of time, a waste of space

Don't waste your life always on the chase

You were unhappy before, you'll be unhappy with them

Just another divorce waiting to happen

*Recording Details: I initially recorded drums, guitars and bass for this back in 2010.  I recorded vocals in April of 2014.  After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to re-record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I kept the original bass direct line recorded in Pro Tools from 2010, but redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions.  

Struggle

I see you breaking, breaking down again

You say that life is taking you down again

But you haven't had a hard life, you were just raised weak

Never rose to the challenge, just accepted defeat

Don't rob yourself of the struggle

Life only gets harder from here

Don't cheat yourself from survival

By letting your life fall to tears

You turn mole hills into mountains and you cower in fear

At the slightest chance of hardship before it even appears

You're insecure at best, that's why you lash out the worst

It's time to cowboy up before life crushes you first

Don't rob yourself of the struggle

Life only gets harder from here

Don't cheat yourself from survival

By letting your life fall to tears

*Recording Details: I initially recorded drums, guitars and bass for this back in 2010.  I recorded vocals in April of 2014.  After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to re-record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I kept the original bass direct line recorded in Pro Tools from 2010, but redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions.  

The Road

It's been one year, I'm a different man

After getting laid off, starting over again

I gave up everything for a chance

and packed my ass up and moved to Kansas

Run, run, run

I'm free again

Run, run, run

You can't hold me down

Run, run, run

I'm free again

Run, run, run

I'm nomad bound

Looking back at this thread of change

That was always there, always the same

That's why I could never seem to remain

Cause the road has always called my name

Run, run, run

I'm free again

Run, run, run

You can't hold me down

Run, run, run

I'm free again

Run, run, run

I'm nomad bound

Run, run, run

I'm free again

Run, run, run

You can't hold me down

Run, run, run

I'm free again

Run, run, run

I'm nomad bound

*Recording Details: I initially recorded drums, guitars and bass for this back in 2010.  I recorded vocals in April of 2014.  After buying a cheap Estaban G-10 practice amp, I decided to re-record all the punk rock songs that weren't attached to my Anti-Social(ist) playlist with the amp.  I used my Heil PR-20 to record the amp in Ardour through my M-Audio Fast Track.  I never even reached 1 on the volume and recorded it fairly quietly.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  I wanted a sort of tinnish overdrive for the mid-80's punk sound.  I kept the original bass direct line recorded in Pro Tools from 2010, but redid the drums in Hydrogen, mostly using the standard kit with a few exceptions. 

Tonight

I lost what's in my heart

This feeling inside me

This pain redefines me

I'm lost

Sleep tonight

Sleep tonight

I hate what I've become

My morals before me

I missed what's important

In my arms

Sleep tonight

Sleep tonight

Sleep, I've bled, my veins running red

These visions dance inside my head

I hate myself and what I've become

I've suffered and bled rivers for no one

This constant pain is killing me

I cover myself so no one can see

This constant misery and how it kills me inside

So I slit my wrists and I sleep tonight

I loved you my darling

I loved you my darling

Sleep tonight

Sleep tonight

Missnamed Madison

From out of the shadows

Emitted the call

Deficit spending for one

And for all

The people that heard it

Took it to heart

Removing the voter

Allowed it to start

Collective bargaining

The ruse that they gave

Public Unions

Made taxpayers slaves

Increasing their benefits

On all our backs

Increasing the power

And cutting the slack

Politicians who did it

Trade favors for cash

And ignored while their states

Were burning to ash

And when debt became

To much to take

Voters took action

To fix their state

We made our decision

Our ballot was cast

how long did they think

Free money could last

When will Unions learn

Theres nothing for free

When taxpayers have nothing

To pay their trustees

We are the ones who pay the bills

It's from our pockets you attempt to steal

You've made your living off our backs

And if we protest, you turn to attack

No more profiting at our expense

It's your turn to help pay the rent

We're not scared of your childish attempts

We're not backing down from your pathetic threats

In several states

The voters cast votes

To stop the insane

Laws being wrote

Putting workers

Out on the street

While Unions continued

To bribe and to cheat

And live off the taxpayers

Like parasites

Enough was enough

The voters would fight

New governors elected

And actions were took

Union reps exposed

As liars and crooks

In multiple states

There were multiple bills

Enacted that gave us

A chance to instill

Some sort of sanity

To the world we live

To try to provide

A future for our kids

But Union thugs

Would have none of that

They began make calls

To coordinate their attack

There weren't enough

To protest in all states

So they picked Madison

And then set the stage

We are the ones who pay the bills

It's from our pockets you attempt to steal

You've made your living off our backs

And if we protest, you turn to attack

No more profiting at our expense

It's your turn to help pay the rent

We're not scared of your childish attempts

We're not backing down from your pathetic threats

So like zombies now

They began to amass

Devoid of all thought

And devoid of all facts

Repeating only

What they were all told

No research confirming

A thing on their own

Because that would violate

Their Union's control

Over their simple-minded,

Due-paying drones

Vulgar and vile

They called it protest

While destroying the capital

And making a mess

To buy them more time

Their reps act like kids

And hid in Illinois

Like running felons

To the governor's credit

He stood his ground

Despite violent threats

He wouldn't back down

And even though

It's held up in the courts

Wisconsin let

Other states make reforms

Without the protests

Because they were all there

In Madison

Bused from everywhere

We are the ones who pay the bills

It's from our pockets you attempt to steal

You've made your living off our backs

And if we protest, you turn to attack

No more profiting at our expense

It's your turn to help pay the rent

We're not scared of your childish attempts

We're not backing down from your pathetic threats

We are the ones who pay the bills

It's from our pockets you attempt to steal

You've made your living off our backs

And if we protest, you turn to attack

No more profiting at our expense

It's your turn to help pay the rent

We're not scared of your childish attempts

We're not backing down from your pathetic threats

Occurapists

With drugs about

While they trash the grounds

Echo back the sound

of immaturity

Forgive your loans?

Destroy what others own?

Molest girls alone?

Where's the security?

You can't take care of yourself but want me to pay for it

You can't take care of yourself but want me to pay for it

You can't take care of yourself but want me to pay for it

You can't take care of yourself but want me to pay for it

Grow up

And go home

Take care

Of your own

You can't take care of yourself but want me to pay for it

You can't take care of yourself but want me to pay for it

You can't take care of yourself but want me to pay for it

You can't take care of yourself but want me to pay for it

Redistribtuion (of Guilt)

'A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong

gives it the superficial appearance of being right'

So I stop to ask the question of 'why?'

Why we send our young to fight.

Is it for our freedom that we aggressively

Pursue our enemies overseas?

Nations that we've equipped and trained to one day

Stand on their own two feet

Building an empire while we

Try to take control

Making everything our business we

Try to police the world

And for every solution

Problems multiply two-fold

What happen to letting business

Make our impact on the world?

Or is it something more elusive?

That we cannot properly define?

Spreading democracy by force

Despite the outcry from behind

How can we force democracy on others?

When we're no longer a Republic ourselves?

We've forgotten what it means to be capitalist

And replaced it with this outcry of 'Spread the Wealth'

Building an empire while we

Try to take control

Making everything our business we

Try to police the world

And for every solution

Problems multiply two-fold

What happen to letting business

Make our impact on the world?

Building an empire while we

Try to take control

Making everything our business we

Try to police the world

And for every solution

Problems multiply two-fold

What happen to letting business

Make our impact on the world?

Orwellian Dystopia

Trust has faded in the present tense

Now the nation moves without common sense

Generations want hand outs for free

At the price of liberty

Security, the proclamation cause

Fear begets our freedoms lost

Now we dance inside a cage

Socialists now, we turn the page

Constitution's raped, we don't say a word

Views distorted, twisted, perverse

Modernists now, the voices call

Transnationalists now, one and all

Unity, no more compromise

It's right or left, and both are lies

New World Order here we come

The day we all trade in our guns

For generations we've learned to become

taken care of at every step

Responsibility is a past time

that those in power want us to forget

From home, to school, to work, to death

Taxed and re-taxed at every turn

Taxation without representation

We're nothing but slaves now, you watch or burn

Answers? There are no answers.

Just trade our freedom for security

Disparaged now if question the calls of those

who propose the direction to lead

Silence now our voices

to those that say there is a better way

and though times may change, nothing changes

Oppression is still the word of the day

For generations we've learned to become

taken care of at every step

Responsibility is a past time

that those in power want us to forget

From home, to school, to work, to death

Taxed and re-taxed at every turn

Taxation without representation

We're nothing but slaves now, you watch or burn

For generations we've learned to become

taken care of at every step

Responsibility is a past time

that those in power want us to forget

From home, to school, to work, to death

Taxed and re-taxed at every turn

Taxation without representation

We're nothing but slaves now, you watch or burn

Innocent people called right-wing extremist

Napolitano's view of self-reliance

If you disagree you're branded an enemy of state

We need to clean the House, and clean the slate

We need to throw out Congress and start again

No more career politicians of the latest trend.

We need term limits on the Senate and House

Just like the president, and then we kick them out

They're so disconnected from the lives we live

Placating to their favorite lobbyist

The problem is there's lawyers in command

trying to fix laws, before they understand them

The don't hear they opposition when they set a task

Just a hurdle to a goal that they work to pass

At some point it's like they pretend to forget

We're American Anti-Socialists.

Repeal

Once they sign it, we will never get out again

Sit forever on the shoulders of our children

Cast our health care in a pit of ruin

And once they've signed it, we will never get out again

They say it's in our interest and it will fix everything

Behind closed doors, they bribed it's passage while their lobbyists sing

Because they're winner today, but our day will come

When we cast them out and leave them all def, blind and dumb

Once they sign it, we will never get out again

Sit forever on the shoulders of our children

Cast our health care in a pit of ruin

And once they've signed it, we will never get out again

Here you have a bill that 70% of tax paying citizens hate

We want it repealed but they try to convince that it's too late

The fact that it's unconstitutional doesn't mean a fucking thing

To them, but to us it means suffocating our dreams

Once they sign it, we will never get out again

Sit forever on the shoulders of our children

Cast our health care in a pit of ruin

And once they've signed it, we will never get out again

**Recording Notes - I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  For the distorted parts, I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  For bass, I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools. 

Be Progressive!

Bourgeois inequality

Owners of all the property

Progressives of the proletariat

Marxism is just a lariat

The narrative they try to tell us

Preaches only Social Justice

But history tells us the truth

Despite it, they want us to

Be Progressive

For the Collective

But be subjective

What's their objective

They got tax obsessive

Makes them aggressive

They make our laws excessive

Makes them oppressive 

Yeah!

It's become a youth pandemic

Excited by academics

on naive students with polemic

arguments about systemic

failures of capitalism

but it's a faux aproism

Class war's a fake aphrodism

Promoting Communism 

don't

Be Progressive

For the Collective

But be subjective

What's their objective

They got tax obsessive

Makes them aggressive

They make our laws excessive

Makes them oppressive 

Yeah!

**Recording Notes - I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  For the distorted parts, I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  For bass, I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools.

March of the Intellectuals

This nation is breaking, apologies for the taking

The outrage that they're faking, a civil war in the making

They fight the economy instead of letting us fix

Then scream hypocrisy if we manage to lift it

It's like they're trying to break us while telling us that they'll save us

Anti-colonial actions dividing people in factions

Persecuting responsible citizens like they're horrible

While holding up all criminals as those that are honorable

Celebrities standing on the graves of children

Authorities treating us like the villian

Politicians trying to disarm the citizens

Then tell another lie, tell another lie

Don't tell me Marx was right

He failed everything he tried in life

He's nothing but a failure

Don't tell me Marx was right

He failed everything he tried in life

He's nothing but a failure

 Look at the bigger picture, it's easy once your figure

that tearing down the free market enslaves their intended target

They think they know better than us cause Marx and Engels earned their trust

with a manifesto based on hate that divided people on a single trait

They promoted class warfare instead of celebrating success

The promoted collectivism instead of praising the best among us

While preaching unity and practicing segregation

Their bi-polar philosophy is destroying our nation

Think of the hypocrisy of creating a classless society 

with a single ruling class assigning each and every single task

They try to pretend it's freedom they sell in our schools

But it's just propaganda with elites making the rules

Celebrities standing on the graves of children

Authorities treating us like the villian

Politicians trying to disarm the citizens

Then tell another lie, tell another lie

Don't tell me Marx was right

He failed everything he tried in life

He's nothing but a failure

Don't tell me Marx was right

He failed everything he tried in life

He's nothing but a failure

**Recording Notes - I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  For the distorted parts, I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  For clean tone, I just direct line recorded in Pro Tools.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  For bass, I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools.

Living and Dying

This is a song my sister (Madeline) and I did for my dad for father's day.  The lyrics are from a poem by Rosa Lee Sims and my grandmother (my dad's mother) sent to a local newspaper.  She saw fit to put it in print... that the editor saw fit to publish it... and that my mother's mother saw fit to cut it out and keep it in 1969... before my parents had ever met in the mid to late 70s... seemed reason enough to take it and turn it into a song.  And on top of that, I took it as an opportunity to get my younger sister to sing the words her name sake found important enough to put into the world.   

Have to Earn Place in Society

November 24, 1969

To the Editor:

Yes, my generation like the current generation, made its own share of great mistakes and blunders.  But what freedom we have today in Europe, Japan, North Africa, and Korea, and a score of islands in the Pacific, exists because hundreds of thousands of young men are lying in graves in Europe, the Pacific Islands, Korea, and now Vietnam.  And they're not the only ones who have given a great deal for their country.  Go visit a veteran's hospital sometime.

Why do you draft card burners, the ones who go to college to avoid the draft, rather than to learn, you peace demonstrators.  You have got the right to do this, because there are brave men in the world.  And here is a poem that tells it better than I could:

Living and Dying

By Mrs. Rosa Lee Sims

Take a man, then put him alone

Put him 12,000 miles from home

Empty his heart of all by blood,

Make him live in sweat and mud.

This is the life I have to live,

And my soul to the devil I give.

You "Peace Boys" pent from your easy char,

But you don't know what it's like over here.

You have a ball without trying

While over here the boys are dying.

You burn your draft cards and march down

and plant your Flag on the White House lawn.

You all want to ban the bomb

There's no Real War in Vietnam.

Use your drugs and have your fun

Then refuse to use a gun.

There's nothing else for you to do

And I'm supposed to die for you?

I'll hate you to the day I die,

You make me hear my buddy cry.

I saw his arm, a bloody shred,

I heard them say: "this one's dead".

It's a large price he had to pay,

Not to live to see another day.

He had the guts to fight and die,

He paid the price, but what did he buy?

He bought your life, by losing his,

But who gives a damn, what a soldier gives?

His wife does, And his pop

and mom, And maybe his sons,

But they are just about

the only ones.

 There are many courageous young men and women today.  And I get a little tired of hearing some people say, "There aren't any responsible young people today."  There are!  I know quite a few.  They are judging the masses by the minority.  I help supervise the school grounds sometimes.  And all I can say, is you people of Washington can be proud of your teachers, and your schools.  They are there to teach your children, but they also help them when they need it, too!  These are some of the ones that have gotten an education and used it to help others.  Their dedication is sincere, and I admire them.  

This happens to be "Thanksgiving week".  Well!  I am one American that, Thank God, she was born in America.

I also remember that November 11 is what we now call Veteran's Day.  I would also like to say thanks to the men we refer to as veterans, who gave up some of your precious years to protect my rights.  My husband happens to be a veteran, so does my Dad and brother and scores of cousins.  And our nephew came home from Vietnam in June with a purple heart on his chest.  But at least he came home.  In America you still have the chance to make your own place in society.  But you have to earn that place in society if you want it.  

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Madeline Crowe

In reading what she wrote, I found that I am not too far off from her thinking.  I too believe we should have to earn a place in society.  I am doing so.  I haven't taken a hand out because I'm a capable person of ability, so for someone like me to accept the wealth of others taken via a 3rd party I see as morally corrupt.  

I became incredibly active in politics as she was.  So, despite having never met her, I wonder how much like her I am.  It's amazing how timely her words still are today.  To me, it reinforces that the concepts of freedom are timeless.  Not flimsy temporary arguments constructed to fit the fashionable ideas of the day and prey on the emotions of the people too weak to see beyond themselves at the bigger world and history of it.  

Also, of lesser note, look at the detail that she addresses herself and Rosa Sims as 'Mrs'.  I don't address myself as Mr.  I don't know anyone today that signs their name like that.  We deny ourselves even that smallest sign of respect.  Why?

Ascentation

This was a little clean thing I did to improve my picking early on. I decided to keep it more or less as is and add a clip from 1984 to it.

*Recording notes: Schecter Damian 7-string, Pro-Tools, 1984 Clips.

Understand

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

What has America become except unloyal?

And yes, we can blame the cost of oil.

And yes, we can blame Iraq for our troubles.

And we can blame the Wall Street bubble.

And yes, we can blame Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and W;

and all the Republicans, for fighting a war instead of helping you.

We can blame everyone who stripped market regulation

and allowed corporations, speculators and banks

to rape America and run amok.

Never thought about stranded families, lost jobs,
workers sacrificed in their plight

cause they're too busy not giving a fuck.

We can blame everyone we want.

But it doesn't change the path we're on.

Instead of looking back, you could try moving on.

Looking ahead, using your head
finding solutions to the problems

instead whining about the lies you've been fed.

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

And yes, you can blame Pelosi, Carter, Clinton,

Rangle, Obama, Dodd and Frank;

and everyone who pushed for 'affordable' housing

for low-income families in the Democrat rank.

Knowing that, when approved, they couldn't pay the bills.

Leaving children starving in the streets in the name of goodwill.

Breaking marriages.  Destroying homes. 

And creating generations of welfare bums.

And then expecting everybody else to pick up the slack

for incompetent decisions, and bring them back on track

when 'Graceland' began to fall.

And we can blame for the programs that have shackled us all.

And yes, we can blame everyone else.

But when it comes down to it, we can only blame ourselves.

We let it happen.  Let it build, let it boom, let it bust.

But at the end of it, it was us.

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

*recording notes - cellos created in East West Colossus for a Zero Principle song called There Is A Way.  vocals recorded with Heil PR20.  The remaining music was created in Fruity Loops.

A Peaceful Respite, Part 1

This is a song I made for my mom for Mother's Day in 2013.  However, before I could finish it, I was laid off and set everything aside to figure out what I was going to do.  A year later, I was able to get it mostly finished and to her.  My god daughter is on the song; her granddaughter.  The lyrics are from the first page of a poem written by my grandmother; her mom.

The lyrics seem to cover how my grandmother misses Colorado and the mountains.  A trait I apparently share.  She was raised there, but left to be with my grandfather after his time in the service in Missouri.  They raised children, ran a farm, but she always missed the mountains of her youth.

A Peaceful Respite

My body's tired and weary,

My heart is troubled, too.

I feel I need new courage

To face each day anew.

I'll go back to the mountains,

Feel their still quiet strength,

I yearn to be among them

And stay there for some length.

I'm finally on my way now,

There are long miles to face,

Yet after endless highway

I'm almost to the place.

My car moves on too slowly--

My heart runs on ahead--

I hear the red-winged blackbird

Down near old Grape Creek bed.

The magpies how they chatter

As they fly to their nest.

The meadowlarks are singing

Near where some cattle rest.

Wild roses!  Oh, how lovely;

They bloom along this hill--

Chokecherries right for picking--

Dare I just eat my fill?

Along a lane so shady

And through a barbed-wire gate,

O'er an old broken foot-bridge--

Oh, I can hardly wait!

The house is old and shabby,

Tall pines hide her disgrace,

But, feel the peace that lingers!

Out here there's no rat race.

No cattle in the barn now, 

No horses near the shed,

No early crowing rooster,

No pigs need to be fed.

In memory I see it,

I'd welcome back their sounds,

Forgot the noise of space age,

My head no longer pounds.

No car horns, no squeling tires,

No music playing loud,

No neighbors here to borrow,

No gossip is allowed.

*recording notes.  Used a Dillion Acoustic/Electric guitar.  Pro-Tools.  Fruity Loops.  Epiphone EB-0 Bass.  East West Symphony Samples.  Heil PR-20 Microphone.

Everything (Never) Changes

It seems like everything I know

Is always changing

But if there's one thing I know for sure

Nothing really changes

Those with power want more

All their talk is cheap

But they live on the fools

They've convinced to believe

It seems like everyone I know

Has become jaded

But if there's one thing I think for sure

The truth is obfuscated

Those with power want more

All their talk is cheap

But they live on the fools

They've convinced to believe

You've been betrayed

By your allegiance

Open your eyes

You're manipulated

It seems like every place I go

Gets more complicated

But if there's one thing I want for sure

It's to be vindicated

Those with power want more

All their talk is cheap

But they live on the fools

They've convinced to believe

 

You've been betrayed

By your allegiance

Open your eyes

You're manipulated

It seems like everything I know

Is always changing

But if there's one thing I know for sure

Nothing really changes

Nothing changes

**Recording Notes - I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  For the distorted parts, I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  For the acoustic parts I used Dillon Acoustic, direct line input into Pro Tools.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  For bass, I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools. 

Being that this was an early song of mine and I'm going back and recording all the music I've ever written on guitar, I decided to use the opportunity to develop other instruments and my voice.  I've never really sung, only screamed.  So, I figured, since this music is very basic because I was just learning guitar, it would be fitting to also start developing my voice and skills at drums and whatever other instruments I bring in as well.